Documentation/blockdev/nbd.txt

   1                       Network Block Device (TCP version)
   2
   3    What is it: With this compiled in the kernel (or as a module), Linux
   4    can use a remote server as one of its block devices. So every time
   5    the client computer wants to read, e.g., /dev/nb0, it sends a
   6    request over TCP to the server, which will reply with the data read.
   7    This can be used for stations with low disk space (or even diskless)
   8    to borrow disk space from another computer.
   9    Unlike NFS, it is possible to put any filesystem on it, etc.
  10
  11    For more information, or to download the nbd-client and nbd-server
  12    tools, go to http://nbd.sf.net/.
  13
  14    The nbd kernel module need only be installed on the client
  15    system, as the nbd-server is completely in userspace. In fact,
  16    the nbd-server has been successfully ported to other operating
  17    systems, including Windows.